Radiation exposure to patients has become a concern for the radiologist community in the multi detector computed tomography (CT) era. With the introduction of faster multi detector CT scanners, various techniques have been developed to reduce the radiation dose delivered to the patient.
Selective shielding of radiation sensitive tissues and organs during CT scanning has been described in the prior art. However, the use of products implementing this technology is not generally recommended as the radiation dose reduction the products provide can be readily achieved by decreasing x-ray tube current, which does not introduce noise or increase beam-hardening artifacts.
Another prior art suggests using shields made of thin sheets of flexible latex impregnated with bismuth and shaped to cover the eye lens, thyroid, or breasts for example, during brain, cervical spine, or chest CT exams. However, using such shields is reported to give rise to artifacts near the shields. Additionally, these shields overestimate organ dose reductions by assuming that organ doses are equivalent to the measured skin dose reductions.
Yet another prior art suggests using selective in-plane shielding. One of the problems associated with selective in-plane shielding is that, it is not cost effective and reduces the image quality.
Hence there exists a need for a method that reduces the radiation dose applied to patients during computed tomography (CT) imaging, while optimizing the image quality.